Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research

Greener Structural Concrete with Recycled Material's

Authors:

Oscar Gutierrez, Kyle Konecny

Mentor:

David Naish, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, California State University Fullerton

Abstract:

The recent uprising of recycled materials has generated a demand for proper waste disposal requiring engineers and scientists to find an applied scientific approach to work cohesively with recycled materials on research projects that can dynamically improve earth’s sustainability. Currently there is a swing towards construction of buildings with greener accommodations leading to positive impacts on the environment and improved sustainability for the buildings life cycle and environment. Three of the main recyclable materials (glass, rubber, and plastic) have advantages that can be harnessed to fulfill the expectations for green buildings. Numerous experiments have been conducted on recycled material applications in concrete and have shown that the use of recycled materials can improve sustainability while maintaining structural integrity.

The main objectives of this research project are twofold. The first objective is to assess the impact of recycled material on the compressive strength of concrete. The second objective is to assess the use of recycled material in a structural application, specifically a reinforced concrete slab. To accomplish the first objective, coarse aggregate will be substituted by recycled material with different percentages 10% 15% 20%, and 4”x8” cylinders will be tested for compression strength in the universal testing machine. Based on the results of the first study, we will then use the strongest mixture to pour and finish the concrete two-way slab. The slab will be tested under uniform pressure. Load, cracking distributions, and the displacement distribution along the slab will be measured. Greener concrete is one of our main goals and has the potential to be used in the field. Obtaining high compression strength with recycled material can lead to future applications on high performance structural slabs that can be installed in greener buildings which can be environmentally friendly and accessible.